This week’s Law & Order features a lead from footprints in the snow

At 10:14 p.m. Dec. 22, an officer responded to the 10 block of Daisy Court on a call about suspicious footprints leading into a man's backyard. The man said he found the footprints in the snow when he returned home, and estimated the footprints happened between 5 and 10 p.m. He was not missing anything from his backyard. The officer followed the footprints and found they started on Nantucket Street, went to every house in the cul-de-sac, and led to the electricity meters on every house. It appeared the prints were from someone reading meters that day.

Sleeping-pill daze:

At 4:36 p.m. Dec. 22, an officer responded to a call from the 2000 block of Cape Hatteras Drive on a report of a missing person. There, a man explained his wife was missing. The officer suspected the man was under the influence of drugs or alcohol because his speech was slurred and he was incoherent, but the man explained he hadn't seen his wife since 9 p.m. the previous day. The officer called the wife's place of employment, where she was at the time. She said her husband takes sleeping pills and sometimes becomes disoriented and incoherent. She said she would call her husband and make sure he knew she was OK.